Gee, who is this girl?

Oh, wait, that’s Junjun! That picture is actually taken from her short-lived modeling experience in China. :) I’d use the rest of the pictures from that series here, in the place of professional photobook images (hurry it up, UFA), but they aren’t really as up-to-date as I would prefer them to be.

A lot’s been said about Region — on this blog and anywhere else. Yet somehow, with all that, I’m finding it hard right now to figure out just what I should say here, right now. Since this is an “overview” and someone has already snipped at me for being too positive in the Sayumi installment, I’m going to have to figure out a way to be a bitch about Junjun’s flaws…

Starting with her singing ability, which is slightly rather unfortunate. I listened to her on Super Girl and she was…yeah, pretty painful, but not painful in the way Koharu is, at least. I do find it odd how she stated in 2005 (during a beauty contest held in Yueyang, her hometown) that she practices her singing around two hours each day, but she sounds much better in Morning Musume, since I guess she’s been receiving formal vocal lessons. I loved the quality of her voice as soon as I heard her solo line in “Onna ni Sachi Are”, so I can only imagine how fantastic she’ll be years from now. It’s weak, but it’s not too weak, y’know?

God, though, that’s really the sole negative criticism I can muster for Region. Perhaps (and this is likely) it has something to do with the fact that she’s the reason I still pay attention to Momusu. But then again, what’s there to like about her? She’s got a tiny personality, just barely peeking through, which isn’t a bad thing because she’s still a relatively new recruit (along with Linlin), but not really enough that I can base this weird affection I have for her on. So far, though she is shaping up to be someone I can still relate to quite well, and this is good — relatability is a big deal to me, with idols. She’s taller (5′6.1″) and has a deeper singing voice compared to the other members, which is exactly what I would be if I were a Musume. She didn’t understand Japanese initially, and neither did I, nor do I have much of a better grasp on it than before (even if I’ve learned some of the characters and I can pronounce it without an accent, but the latter comes from generally singing along and reading the lyrics as I go). It’s not at all like what I feel for Mitsui Aika, whom my affection for extends to “her hair is naturally black” and “she’s so cute!”. People like idols for different reasons, and my reason for liking Junjun happens to be that I see a small part of myself in her. The psychology surrounding it is rather complex.

At the risk of sounding delusionally mushy, it’s also the little things that make me like Junjun more. The fact that she was a “loser”, just like the original Morning Musume (which are my favorite generations like EVER and whose music I love to pieces), that I know that some day she will be a fantastic singer (I sucked at it and I improved, I think Junjun can, too), that she faced something as terrible as racism from people who didn’t even know her after she joined Momusu but still came out of that with her head held high… She’s an idol who I can actually idolize and admire. She is someone who provokes a good feeling from me, out of a bunch of girls whom I am mostly apathetic toward. If this series has said anything about how I think of the individual members of Morning Musume, it’s that Ai is “alright”, Risa is “alright”, Eri is “alright”, Lin is “alright”, and Aika is “alright”, to me, and that isn’t enough sometimes. Idols need to get a response out of me, whether it’s positive or negative. At least, that’s the kind of standard I hold them to. Whether that makes me different or not… I don’t know.

I hope that she’ll go far in the near future.

Also, release a photobook ’cause I said so.